Hope College

Hope College is a private, residential liberal arts college located in downtown Holland, Michigan, United States, a few miles from Lake Michigan. It was opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants four years after the community was first settled. The first freshman college class matriculated in 1862, and Hope received its state charter in 1866. Hope College retains affiliation with the Reformed Church in America. The school’s campus—now 125 acres (0.51 km²), adjacent to the downtown commercial district—has been shared with Western Theological Seminary since 1884. The school has about 3,350 undergraduates. John C. Knapp assumed office as 12th President on July 1, 2013

History
Hope’s motto is taken from Psalm 42:5: “Spera in Deo” (“Hope in God”). The college’s emblem is an anchor. This is drawn from a speech made by Albertus van Raalte, the leader of the community, on the occasion of the founding of the Pioneer School in 1851: “This is my anchor of hope for this people in the future,” (an allusion to Hebrews 6:19). The primary-level Pioneer School was later expanded to secondary, and soon after, college level education as Hope College. Van Vleck Hall, which originally housed the Pioneer School, is the oldest building on campus (1858) and now serves as a dormitory. It is the second oldest building in the city. The first freshman college class matriculated in 1862, and Hope received its state charter in 1866. The college admitted its first female students in 1878.

AcademicsThe college offers 93 majors leading to a Bachelor ofArts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Engineering, or Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. It has a student population of about 3,432 and a student-to-faculty ratio of 13:1.

The college offers off-campus study programs in several US cities, including Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, and overseas programs for the summer, semester, or an entire academic year. Among its international programs, a long-standing summer semester in Vienna is fairly popular among students.

Hope College is a member of the Great Lakes Colleges Association.

Campus lifeHousing is provided in 11 residence halls, 15 apartment buildings, and 72 houses (called “cottages”) that the college owns near the campus. A small percentage of students – mostly juniors, seniors, and Holland residents – live off-campus. The majority of Hope students come from the greater Great Lakes region – in 2012 approximately 90% of the student body comes from the states of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.Approximately 86% of the student body is white, students from minority backgrounds account for about 12% of the student body. Approximately 2% of the student body is international

Traditions at Hope include “The Pull” and Nykerk Cup, events which pit freshman and sophomore classes against each other. In “The Pull,” freshmen and sophomore men engage in an elaborately prepared three-hour tug-of-war across the nearbyBlack River, with female students acting as moralers. This event was started in 1897.^[9] The Nykerk Cup isa competition between freshman and sophomore women (with men as moralers) in music, drama, and oration, held annually since 1936. Both traditions include separate duties based on gender and although there is slight criticism for this, both events are popular, well attended, and enjoy strong support from the campus community.

Student activities include Dance Marathon and Relay for Life, an FM radio station (WTHS-FM 89.9), newspaper (The Anchor), literary magazine (Opus), and yearbook (Milestone), plus a variety of clubs, musical and choral groups, spiritual, literary, social and athletic groups. About 10-12% of students belong to social fraternities and sororities, which are local to Hope rather than chapters of larger organizations with the exception of one fraternity and one sorority (Phi Sigma Kappa andDelta Sigma Theta respectively). The college holds Sunday evening worship services (“The Gathering”) and Monday/Wednesday/Friday chapel services on campus. Attendance at these events has been voluntary since 1970, yet students routinely fill Dimnent Memorial Chapel to its capacity of more than 1000 each time.

The Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series brings in prominent authors for free public readings. The Series is named in honor of poet and Hope College professor emeritus Jack Ridl, who founded the tradition in 1982.

For eight straight years (2006–2013), Hope has been listed among the “101 best and brightest companies to work for in West Michigan” survey of the Michigan Business and Professional Association.

Hope College is known for its natural science programs and strong research reputation.

The Pull“The Pull” is an annual tug-of-war between the freshman and sophomore classes at Hope College. The Pull takes place across the Black River in Holland, Michigan, and now takes place on the last Saturday of September every year ( Prior to 1993 it was held on a Friday). The Pull dates back to 1898. During the Pull, each team has 18 students on the rope as “pullers,” and another 18 acting as guides and morale boosters, or “moralers.” The freshmen are coached by the junior class, and the sophomores by the seniors. This arrangement has led to the rivalry between even and odd year classes. Even year’s colors are red and white, while Odd year’s colors are maroon and gold. Even year holds the annual series lead with 54 wins to Odd year’s 41. The competition is now limited to three hours, however it previously had no time limit. The winner is decided by a measure of which team has taken the most rope.

The Nykerk Cup CompetitionThe Nykerk Cup Competition is an old tradition at Hope College, started back in 1935 by John Nykerk. It is a multi-faceted competition between freshmen and sophomore girls that involves song, play and oration. Song is a combination of synchronized vocals, hand motions and props. Odd year classes and even year classes each have their own traditions thatthey include in their performance. When the performance comes around every November the alumni go wild as the traditional motions are made. Play incorporates many traditions as well and the script is always connected with Hope College. Oration is an approximately nine minute speech, which incorporates elaborate hand and body movement. The orator is a female chosen from the class who writes her own speech which is always focused on the theme of Nykerk, which changes from year to year. The morale boys and play boys are another part of the Nykerk tradition. Their job is to make posters for encouragement and give gifts that will help the Nykerk girls get through the busy weeks of preparation. All participants have three weeks to perfect their performance before Nykerk night. On Nykerk Night there is a panel of judges who decide which year wins based on the quality of each performance. Once the winner is decided the Nykerk Cup is awarded to that class and the celebrations begin.

AthleticsHope College competes in the MIAA conference, and is a Division III member of the NCAA. It currently fields 20 men’s and women’s varsity teams. The college has constructed several new outdoor athletic venues in recent years—DeVos Fieldhouse (2005), Boeve Baseball Stadium (2008), Wolters Softball Stadium (2008), Van Andel Soccer Stadium (2009) and Heeringa-Vande Poel Tennis Stadium (2012). The college recently acquired Holland Municipal Stadium from the City of Holland and has renamed it the Ray and Sue Smith in honor of a longtime coach and his wife. In 2006, the women’s basketball team won the National Championship in its division, the second in school history.

Hope has won the MIAA All-Sports/Commissioner’s Cup Championship more than any other member school. Hope has won the honor a league-leading 34 times.In 2012-13 Hope athletes and/or teams qualified for nine NCAA championships.

The school’s athletic teams are called the Flying Dutchmen^[2] (men) and the Flying Dutch (women). The school colors are blue and orange (possibly chosen because the Dutch royal family is the House of Orange-Nassau). The college sponsors club ice hockey and rugby in addition to a popular intramural sports program

National Championships:

• 1990 – Women’s Basketball (NCAA Division III)
• 2006 – Women’s Basketball (NCAA Division III)
• 2014 – Women’s Volleyball (NCAA Division III)

National Runners-up:

• 1994 – Women’s Swimming and Diving (NCAA Division III)
• 1995 – Men’s Swimming and Diving (NCAA Division III)
• 1996 – Men’s Basketball (NCAA Division III)
• 1998 – Men’s Basketball (NCAA Division III)
• 2010 – Women’s Basketball (NCAA Division III)

Club Team National Runners-up:

• 2003 – Men’s Ice Hockey (ACHA Division III)
• 2010 – Men’s Ice Hockey (ACHA Division III)
• 2011 – Men’s Ice Hockey (ACHA Division III)

The men’s and women’s basketball teams also take part in a notable rivalry, the Calvin–Hope rivalry.